Marslander InSight heat probe has trouble drilling into red planet planeet

NASA’s Mars lander InSight has been on the red planet for a year now and its sensors have detected tremors and listened to the wind, among other things, but a probe that measures the temperature of the ground in the soil is still struggling to penetrate that ground. drilling.

NASA reports that the probe nicknamed ‘the mole’, which is part of the Heat Flow and Physical Properties Package, started digging again last weekend, but that it was half above the ground and thus unable to penetrate the soil of the Mars to drill. The American space agency states that this may have to do with unexpected soil properties. A cause that is named based on tests done on Earth, ground came in front of the mole’s tip the moment it withdrew. This “retreat” is actually the kickback involved in the “hammering” to get the mole deeper into the Martian soil.

Heat Flow and Physical Properties Package

The Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt, the German national research center for aerospace, is the creator of the probe and describes this event as unexpected. On the contrary, it was expected that the probe would go deeper into the ground, partly because the mole has no system to go ‘backwards’ and thus come back above the ground. The research center explains that the combination of the relatively low atmospheric pressure on Mars, the low gravity and unknown mechanical properties of the regolith pose a challenge. In addition, there must also be enough friction between the bottom and the sonde to gain depth. The center reports that it is now important to prevent the probe from falling over and that the dug hole must be inspected.

On the left, part of the probe has “hammered” itself into the Martian soil with the help of the shovel of the robotic arm, while next to it you can see the recent development, with the rod half coming out of the ground.

In February, the probe got stuck while it had to go to a depth of five meters, so that the thermal conductivity coefficient can be measured per 50 centimeters. In August, InSight tried to compact the soil around the drilling site, to allow the soil to settle a bit and thus give the probe more grip. In recent weeks, a shovel at the end of InSight’s robotic arm has also been used to apply pressure. This had some result and led to a depth of 3cm, but that has been negated by the recent event. Thomas Zurbuchen of NASA says that more information is shared after all data has been analysed.

InSight successfully landed on Mars on November 26 last year. The lander was launched primarily to answer questions about the structure and energetics of the planet Mars’ interior. To find out more, the Mars lander will measure the thickness of the crust, the size and the density of the core, among other things. InSight will also map how much heat is emitted from the planet and how high the speed of seismic waves in the mantle is.

InSight